F 

1135 
.013 


A  Star  of  Hope 
for  Mexico 


By  CHARLES  WILLIAM  DABNEY 

*  ;',•••- 

President  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati 


Distribution  of  Prizes  to  Kindergarten  Children  in  Mexico  City,  D.  F. 


Published  by 

LATIN-AMERICAN  NEWS  ASSOCIATION 
1400  Broadway,  New  York  City 


Does  Mexico  Interest  You? 

Then  you  should  read  the  following  pamphlets: 

What  the  Catholic  Church  Has  Done  for  Mexico,  by  Doctor N 

Paganel   I     ^  1A 

The  Agrarian  Law  of  Yucatan f 

The  Labor  Law  of  Yucatan ' 

International  Labor  Forum ; N 

Intervene  in  Mexico,  Not  to  Make,  but  to  End  War,  urges  (       ft1c 

Mr.  Hearst,  with  reply  by  Rolland f 

The  President's  Mexican  Policy,  by  F.  K.  Lane 

The  Religious  Question  in  Mexico ) 

A  Reconstructive  Policy  in  Mexico >      0.10 

Manifest  Destiny J 

What  of  Mexico. ) 

Speech  of  General  Alvarado >      0.10 

Many  Mexican  Problems ; 

Charges  Against  the  Diaz  Administration ] 

Carranza >      0.10 

Stupenduous  Issues ; J 

Minister  of  the  Catholic  Cult ) 

Star  of  Hope  for  Mexico f >      0.10 

Land  Question  in  Mexico ) 

Open  Letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  Chicago,  111. ) 

How  We  Robbed  Mexico  in  1848,  by  Robert  H.  Howe V      0.10 

What  the  Mexican  Conference  Really  Means J 

The  Economic  Future  of  Mexico 

We  also  mail  any  of  these  pamphlets  upon  receipt  of  5c  each. 


Address  all  communications  to 


LATIN-AMERICAN  NEWS  ASSOCIATION 
1400  Broadway,  New  York  City 


'_  r  k  \ 


A  Star  of  Hope  for^Mexico 

By  CHARLES  WILLIAM  DABNEY 
President  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati,  in  "The  Outlook" 


What  can  we  do  for  Mexico?  In  the  first  place,  we  can  try 
to  understand  her.  We  cannot  expect  to  help  Mexico  effectually 
until  we  first  understand  her  people  and  their  history,  institu- 
tions, and  aspirations.  What,  then,  does  the  history  of  Mexico 
teach  us?  What,  for  example,  is  the  meaning  6"f  the  series  of 
revolutions  which  have  been  going  on  in  that  country  for  the 
last  hundred  years  ? 

These  revolutions,  including  this  last  long  one,  have  all,  at 
bottom,  been  phases  of  a  blind  misguided  struggle  of  a  strong, 
ignorant  people  for  liberty.  They  sprang  from  a  desire  of  the 
common  people  to  realize  the  benefits  of  democracy,  whose 
catchwords  had  reached  even  to  them,  but  whose  terms  they 
only  vaguely  understood.  They  constitute  a  contest  against 
a  feudal  system  approaching  slavery.  They  were  chiefly,  al- 
though not  entirely,  the  strivings  of  an  oppressed  people  to 
win  for  themselves  and  their  children  a  small  place  upon  the 
soil  of  their  native  land. 

These  blind  efforts  have  failed  of  their  ends  largely  because 
of  the  ignorance  of  the  people  and  the  lack  of  true  and  unselfish 
leaders.  There  has  never  been  a  middle  class  in  Mexico  to 
supply  leaders  for  the  people  in  their  struggle  with  the  feudal 
lords.  Organized  public  opinion  is  the  only  basis  for  demo- 
cratic government,  and  this  has  never  existed  in  Mexico.  The 
only  newspapers  are  controlled  by  the  Government,  by  the  land- 
lords, or  by  the  big  corporations.  There  are  no  real  political 
parties.  The  only  politics  are  wholly  personal,  and  the  only 
political  organizations  are  gangs  formed  to  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  leaders  whose  names  they  bear.  There  are  no  political 
campaigns  to  educate  the  voters,  but  only  processions  and  ral- 
lies intended  to  impress  them.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  free  political 
discussion  of  any  kind.  Elections  in  Mexico,  consequently,  are 
either  farces  or  frauds. 

Organized  public  opinion  and  the  free  discussion  of  political 


affairs  so  necessary  to  free  government  cannot  exist  where  the 
masses  of  the  people  are  ignorant.  The  only  solution  of  the 
Mexican  problem,  therefore,  will  be  through  the  establishment 
of  public  schools  which  will  educate  the  people  to  know  their 
rights,  and  train  men  to  lead  them  in  their  struggles  to  win 
these  rights. 

Most  people  think  that  the  largest  part  of  the  Mexican  popu- 
lation is  a  mixed  race  of  Spanish  and  Indian  blood.  The  Mexi- 
can census  is  inaccurate  and  incomplete.  As  Mexicans'  of  any 
intelligence  desire  to  be  considered  as  having  European  blood, 
the  returns  with  regard  to  parentage  or  race  cannot  be  relied 
upon.  The  best  authorities  tell  us  that  we  mestizos,  or  people 
of  Spanish-Indian  blood,  are  not  over  forty  per  cent.,  and  that 
the  people  of  *pure  European  blood  are  certainly  not  twenty 
per  cent,  of  the  whole.  The  people  of  pure  and  mixed  European 
blood  together  constitute  thus  only  about  sixty  per  cent.,  or 
six  million  of  the  fifteen  million  souls  in  Mexico  to-day.  The 
nine  million  Indians,  more  or  less,  constitute  some  fifty  ab- 
original tribes  in  various  stages  of  semi-civilization — and  some 
still  in  savagery — distributed  all  over  the  country  from  Sonora 
to  Yucatan.  This  vast  area  of  Mexican  territory  contains  only 
about  twenty  persons  to  the  square  mile.  Were  it  populated 
as  densely  as  portions  of  the  United  States,  Mexico  would 
support  a  hundred  million  people.  Vast  arid  regions  render  this 
impossible,  but  it  could  readily  support  four  times  its  present 
population. 

The  Spanish  invaders  and  their  later  followers  brought  a 
marvelous  mixture  of  blood  into  Mexico.  Spain  was  the  great 
melting-pot  of  the  Old  World's  peoples — Iberian,  Roman,  Celtic, 
Vandal,  Goth,  and  Semitic — and  sent  all  these  strains  to  mix 
with  the  hundreds  of  Indian  races  supposed  to  have  come  orig- 
inally from  Asia.  If  the  blending  ~of  a  variety  of  strong  bloods 
makes  a  great  people,  Mexico  should  be  a  powerful  nation. 

The  Mexican  people  have  always  been  sharply  divided  into 
an  upper  and  a  lower  class,  there  being  practically  no  middle 
class,  and  no  room  for  one  under  the  present  agrarian  system. 
The  peons  and  Indians — people  without  land  of  their  own- 
make  up  perhaps  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  Mexico, 
or  twelve  millions  out  of  the  fifteen. 

In  judging  this  people  we  must  also  take  into  consideration 
the  experiences  through  which  they  have  passed  in  the  cen- 
turies since  the  Spanish  conquest.  After  the  army  of  Cortez 
had  swept  the  country  and  divided  the  land  and  the  surviving 
Indians  among  his  followers,  they  and  their  successors,  the 
Government  and  the  Church,  combined  to  suck  all  the  life-blood 
they  could  out  of  the  people.  Aside  from  ineffective  protest, 
the  Church  acquiesced  in  this  exploitation  or  openly  shared  its 
proceeds,  although  it  did  soften  its  worst  horrors.  The  material 
resources  of  the  country  were  partially  developed.  Cities  and 
haciendas  were  established  and  mines  opened,  but  the  wealth 
from  both  farm  and  mine  was  poured  into  Spain. 


Under  Spanish  dominion  the  education  of  the  people  of  Mex- 
ico was  resisted  and  retarded  by  many  powerful  influences.  The 
landlords,  the  mining  and  lumber  companies,  preferred  ignorant 
laborers  because  they  were  easier  to  exploit.  The  peon  was  a 
mere  unit  of  physical  force,  a  "hand,"  and  they  wanted  to  keep 
him  such.  All  employers,  therefore,  united  to  keep  him  in  ig- 
norance. Monastic  and  other  religious  organizations  flourished, 
but  they  did  little  to  educate  the  people.  The  theologians  even 
questioned  whether  the  natives  had  intellects  like  other  people, 
and  the  whites  and  mixed-bloods  came  to  be  spoken  of  as  gente 
de  razon — people  with  reason — as  distinguished  from  the  Indi- 
ans, who  were  supposed  to  have  none.  By  farming  out  taxa- 
tion and  selling  grants  and  privileges  the  viceroys,  governors, 
and  other  Spanish  officials  added  their  burdens  to  those  of  the 
State  and  Church,  and  the  unfortunate  people  bore  them  all. 

The  social  organization,  consisting  only  of  the  exploiters  and 
the  exploited,  though  somewhat  fluid  at  first,  under  this  govern- 
ment soon  hardened  into  tradition.  Life  for  the  poor  man  was 
without  incentive  or  hope,  and  for  three  centuries  the  history 
of  the  Mexican  was  the  dead  level  of  uneventfulness.  Under 
such  conditions  ten  generations  labored  and  passed  away.  Such 
experiences  inevitably  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  upon 
the  character  of  the  people.  They  not  only  widened  the  social 
chasm,  they  weakened  and  debased  the  man,  making  submis- 
siveness  a  habit  and  resistance  impossible.  With  no  motive 
in  life  except  to  eat,  drink,  and  propagate  his  miserable  kind, 
the  common  Mexican  became  idle,  sensual,  and  brutal,  the  spirit 
of  manana  ruled  his  life,  and  a  profound  fatalism  locked  his 
spirit  in  death. 

Under  the  system  of  repartimientos  the  lands  were  originally 
divided  among  those  who  merited  well  of  the  Crown,  and  the 
native  people  were  seized  along  with  the  land  and  made  to  work 
for  the  new  owner  as  slaves.  This  system  was  so  grossly  abused 
that  it  had  to  be  abandoned,  and  then  a  more  polite  way  of 
accomplishing  the  same  thing  was  introduced.  This  was  the 
plan  of  encomiendas,  under  which  a  certain  number  of  Indians 
were  "commended"  to  the  landowner,  to  be  civilized  and  Chris- 
tianized by  him.  He  promptly  enslaved  the  whole  lot,  binding 
them  to  his  land,  which  they  could  not  leave  so  long  as  they 
were  in  debt.  This  system  had  for  the  proprietor  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  slavery  as  it  existed  in  the  United  States,  without 
its  obligations. 

Many  efforts  were  made  to  abolish  this  system,  but  without 
success.  The  missionaries  from  the  old  country  denounced  it, 
some  of  the  viceroys  condemned  it;  but  it  was  profitable  to  all 
governing  classes,  and  it  kept  the  Indians  in  order.  Working 
was  good  for  the  souls  of  the  peons.  Left  to  themselves,  they 
would  wander  about  the  country,  gamble  and  fight.  So  even 
the  priests  were  brought  to  think  well  of  the  plan.  The  land 
yielded  a  living  easily.  In  that  fine  climate  the  simplest  houses 
and  fewest  clothes  sufficed.  Why  should  the  priests  trouble 


themselves  to  educate  the  Indian?  He  was  happy  as  he  was. 
After  a  generation  or  two  of  monks  had  passed  away  the  local 
churches  came  under  the  control  of  a  native  priesthood  almost 
as  ignorant  as  their  parishioners.  The  ceremonies  of  the  Church 
degenerated  into  the  crudest  formalities  wrapped  in  the  crassest 
superstitions  derived  from  previous  Indian  practices.  There 
were  a  few  private  schools  for  the  sons  of  the  rich,  a  few  insti- 
tutes for  professional  training,  and  a  few  seminaries  for  priests, 
but  no  public  schools,  no  schoolhouses,  no  teachers,  and  no 
funds  provided  to  educate  the  masses.  Occasionally  there  was 
a  parochial  school  in  which  the  catechism  and  the  lives  of  the 
saints  were  taught  by  rote,  but  these  schools  rarely^  ever  taught 
the  children  to  read.  Under  these  conditions  the  people  drifted 
gently  down  the  stream  of  years  in  contented  ignorance. 

As  is  always  the  way,  the  social  distinctions  between  chiefs 
and  common  Indians,  between  Spanish  landlords  and  peasant 
mestizos,  settled  down  upon  the  criterion  of  wealth.  Most  of 
the  Indian  caciques  dropped  into  the  lower  class,  as  did  the  un- 
successful Spanish.  The  descendants  of  the  hidalgo,  as  well 
as  of  his  soldiers,  failing  to  acquire  lands  or  mines,-  slid  down 
the  social  scale  along  with  their  half-blood  kin  into  the  great 
conglomerate  mass  of  poor  at  the  bottom.  The  constituents  of 
this  mass  became  each  year  more  and  more  indistinguishable. 
By  the  time  of  the  national  emancipation,  therefore,  a  popula- 
tion of  five  or  six  millions  had  been  stratified  into  an  upper  and 
a  lower  class,  and  of  the  total  at  least  nine-tenths  belonged  to 
the  lower  class.  All  elements  are  represented  in  the  upper  class ; 
all  bloods  are  found  in  the  lower  class.  The  Mexican  people 
are  practically  one.  The  classes  differ  only  as  they  have  en- 
joyed opportunity  and  have  used  it.  The  only  differences  are 
in  possessions  or  in  traits  resulting  from  opportunity  or  the 
long  want  of  it. 

In  studying  the  last  one  hundred  years  of  Mexico's  political 
development  one  must  keep  this  dark  background  in  mind. 
These  conditions,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  people  and  the 
institutions  fastened  upon  them  by  their  conquerors,  must  all 
be  considered  in  interpreting  the  period  of  liberation  which 
opened  for  Mexico,  as  for  all  Latin  America,  in  the  early  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  all  our  judgments  of  Latin-Ameri- 
can people,  present  as  well  as  past,  let  us  be  fair  and  remember 
who  they  were  and  what  they  have  suffered.  Anglo-Saxons  are 
inclined  to  be  too  conceited  and  arrogant.  We  should  remem- 
ber, for  example,  that  the  Latin  conquerors  preserved  as  slaves 
the  native  races,  instead  Of  killing  them  off  or  driving  them  out, 
and  we  should  also  remember  that  it  was  not  the  makers  of 
Magna  Charta  and  the  Bill  of  Rights,  but  the  founders  of  the 
Inquisition,  who  gave  the  Latin-Americans  their  first  govern- 
ments. 

The  desire  for  enlightenment  everywhere  and  always  follows 
the  struggle  for  liberty.  So  we  find  that  the  intellectual  move- 
ment in  Mexico  received  its  first  great  impulse  from  Hidalgo 


in  1810,  and  progressed  throughout  the  century  by  ebb  and  flow 
as  the  political  revolutions  came  and  went.  Though  each  poli- 
tical uprising  awakened  the  minds  of  the  people,  the  actual 
progress  of  enlightenment  under  the  conditions  described  was 
necessarily  very  low.  After  experiences  such  as  the  people  of 
Mexico  had  endured  it  was  not  possible  for  mere  political  libera- 
tion to  transform  them  in  a  day  or  a  decade  into  intelligent, 
self-governing  citizens.  Many  of  them  were  still  semi-civilized 
Indians,  and  nine-tenths  were  absolutely  ignorant  at  the  opening 
of  this  era.  What  had  been  three  centuries  in  the  making  could 
not  be  undone  in  one  hundred  years. 

The  general  movement  for  freedom  in  Latin-America  was 
awakened  by  the  successful  war  for  independence  of  the  Eng- 
lish colonies  in  America  and  tremendously  stimulated  by  the 
French  Revolution.  The  times  were  then  ripe  in  Europe,  and 
the  prepared  peoples  seized  the  opportunity  to  win  new  liberties. 
But  the  people  of  Latin  America  were  not  ready;  the  oppression 
of  centuries  had  trained  them  so  long  to  submission  that  they 
were  dazed  in  the  presence  of  the  opportunity.  When  Napoleon 
paralyzed  Europe,  the  shackles  fell  from  Mexico  almost  with- 
out her  knowing  it.  Thus  Mexico  got  her  independence  too 
soon  and  too  easily.  The  clock  of  destiny  struck  too  early  for 
'her. 

For  years  the  people  of  Mexico  had  been  restless;  they 
wanted  something  better,  but  they  did  not  understand  this  thing 
called  independence,  with  which  the  world  was  ringing.  Mex- 
ico in  the  nineteenth  century  resembled  one  of  her  ancient 
volcanoes.  The  fierce  heat  lay  smouldering  within  her  rock- 
bound  sides ;  an  occasional  upheaval,  accompanied  by  a  few 
deep  murmurings,  relieved  the  pressure  temporarily,  but  the 
central  fires  remained  smothered.  The  great  eruption  did  not 
come  until  the  middle  of  the  century. 

Some  weeks  ago  the  Pan-American  Scientific  Congress  con- 
cluded its  second  meeting  in  Washington.  The  one  note  that 
ran  through  all  the  papers  and  addresses  at  this  Congress  was 
the  unity  of  America  and  the  duty  of  its  different  peoples  to 
stand  together.  It  as  interesting  to  trace  the  origin  of  this  idea 
of  unity  in  the  support  of  free  government  throughout  America. 
Such  ideas  grow  with  the  years,  and  it  is  not  possible  that  ex- 
actly this  conception  of  the  duty  of  the  various  nationalities  to 
each  other  and  the  world  should  be  held  by  any  American  in 
these  early  days.  But  the  root-idea  that  America  as  a  whole 
stood  for  the  right  to  self-government  had*:existed  in  the  minds 
of  the  seers  for  at  least  a  hundred  years.  This  was  the^covenant 
preserved  in  the  American  ark,  and  to  the  defense  of  this  cove- 
nant all  Americans  were  forever  dedicated.  This  was  the  con- 
tinen^al  thought  of  the  men  in  76,  and  this  has  been  the  in- 
spiring principle  in  every  declaration  of  independence  published 
on  this  hemisphere.  As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  the 
most  significant  early  expression  in  Latin-America  of  this  idea 
of  Pan-Americanism  was  in  the  plan  of  the  Spanish  revolutionist 


Miranda  for  the  Grande  Reunion  Americana,  a  secret  society 
organized,  1800  to  1810,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  the  people 
of  Central  and  South  America  in  a  struggle  for  independence. 

Undoubtedly  Father  Hidalgo,  the  first  Mexican  liberator,  had 
heard  of  Miranda.  "El  grito  de  Dolores,"  the  cry  from  the  City 
of  Sorrows,  as  the  independence  call  of  Hidalgo  was  designated, 
was  the  first  utterance  in  Mexico  of  this  Pan-American  idea. 
This  call  was,  "Long  live  America !  Death  to  bad  government !" 
Hidalgo  did  not  say,  "Long  live  Mexico!  Death  to  Spain!" 
but  "Long  live  America,"  Pan-America,  the  anticipated  home  of 
good  government,  as  opposed  to  the  Old  World,  the  home  of  bad 
government.  History  tells  us  that  he  declared  for  the  indepen- 
dence of  Mexico  as  a  part  of  self-governing  America.  Like  our 
Declaration,  it  indeed  was  the  demand  of  an  oppressed  people  for 
the  right  to  govern  themselves,  but  it  was  also  an  expression  of 
the  ideal  of  Pan-America,  destined  to  be  the  hemisphere  of  demo- 
cracy. 

Desperately  angered  by  the  interference  of  the  Government 
with  his  efforts  to  teach  the  people  letters  and  industry — for  he 
had  been  instructing  them  in  reading  and  figures  and  training 
them  to  rear  silkworms  and  to  make  pottery — Father  Hidalgo, 
of  Dolores,  on  a  September  Sunday  morning  in  1810  summoned 
his  pupil  horticulturists  and  potters,  forced  the  village  prison, 
liberated  the  political  prisoners,  rang  the  parish  bell,  and  called 
the  people,  in  the  name  of  Him  who  came  to  bring  all  men 
abundant  life,  to  declare  themselves  free.  Thus  was  sounded, 
by  a  representative  of  the  Saviour  of  men,  the  Liberty  Bell  of 
Mexico.  The  spirit  of  the  first  democrat  was  moving  his 
people. 

The  beginnings  of  this  century-long  struggle  have  been  re- 
cited for  the  purpose  of  emphasizing  the  fact  that  these  were 
genuine  uprisings  of  a  people  seeking  liberty  and  opportunity, 
although  seeking  it  blindly,  and  for  the  purpose  of  explaining 
the  occasion  for  the  next  great  proclamation  of  Pan-American- 
ism. Iturbide  sought  to  gain  support  for  his  selfish  schemes  by 
declaring  that  there  was  on  foot  a  plan  for  the  reestablishment 
of  Spanish  authority  in  Mexico  which  it  was  his  duty  to  pre- 
vent. Whether  any  such  scheme  existed  is  doubtful,  but  the 
belief  that  it  did  had  an  important  influence  in  bringing  the 
support  of  the  United  States  to  the  new  Republic.  In  his  mes- 
sage of  December,  1823,  President  Monroe,  therefore,  made  that 
epoch-making  utterance  warning  European  governments  forever 
to  keep  their  hands  off  the  American  continent.  The  sigriifi- 
cance  of  the  doctrine,  understood  originally  to  be  for  the  United 
States  only,  we  are  just  beginning  to  appreciate  in  its  continental 
aspects.  The  events  of  the  last  two  decades  have  shown  us  the 
wisdom  of  this  forgotten  doctrine,  which  now  promises  to  be  the 
foundation  stone  of  the  structure  of  our  Pan-American  union. 
Buoyed  up  by  this  declaration,  the  independent  government  of 
Mexico  set  out  upon  a  career  which,  though  often  in  desperate 
danger  from  violent  reactions,  has  gone  steadily  forward. 

8 


For  the  generation  following,  the  evil  genius  of  Mexico  was 
Santa  Anna,  who  overthrew  its  constitutional  guarantees  and 
involved  it  in  difficulties  with  the  United  States,  and  then  left 
it  in  a  condition  of  anarchy. 

Juarez,  the  little  Indian  of  Oaxaca,  was  the  most  unselfish, 
wisest  and  bravest  of  all  the  Mexican  patriots.  He  was  the  real 
liberator  of  Mexico,  and  the  real  founder  of  her  school  system 
A  Constitution  modeled  after  ours  was  proclaimed  by  him.  A 
series  of  laws  known  as  "Reform  Laws"  were  passed,  guar- 
anteeing liberty  of  worship,  separation  of  Church  and  State, 
and  equality  before  the  law  for  priest,  soldier,  and  common  man. 
A  vigorous  mortmain  law  aimed  at  the  immense  holdings  of  the 
religious  orders  was  enacted. 

It  is  impressive  to  note  that  Juarez  understood  perfectly  the 
distinction  between  the  rights  of  the  Church  and  the  rights  of 
the  people.  His  struggle  was  not  against  the  humble  parish 
priests,  but  against  the  higher  clergy  and  the  far  too  numerous 
religious  orders.  It  was  against  the  hierarchy,  the  successors 
of  the  men  who  in  the  colonial  days  had  been  the  counselors  of 
the  kings,  viceroys,  and  commissions,  and  who  held  tenaciously 
to  the  idea  that  they  ought  to  share  in  governing  the  people, 
that  Juarez  fought,  and  not  against  the  Church  of  the  people. 

Though  the  early  leaders  in  the  movement  for  independence 
were  earnest  partisans  of  popular  education,  and  passed  some 
elaborate  laws  for  its  establishment,  they  failed  to  carry  them 
out.  Perhaps  it  was  impossible  at  the  time.  The  Constitution 
of  1824,  copied  after  the  American  Constitution,  and  establish- 
ing universal  democracy,  was  wholly  unsuited  to  Mexican  con- 
ditions. The  American  Constitution  was  a  compact  entered  into 
voluntarily  by  States  having  had  previous  separate  existences, 
and  made  up  of  Anglo-Saxon  men  already  trained  in  self-govern- 
ment. The  Mexican  States  had  no  such  history  and  no  such 
citizens.  They  were  States  only  in  name.  The  government  had 
always  been  strongly  and  autocratically  Centralist,  and  to  such 
a  country  and  such  a  people  the  American  Constitution  was 
absolutely  unadapted. 

The  responsibility  of  self-government  was  conferred  upon  an 
illiterate  and  untrained  mass  of  people,  a  large ,  proportion  of 
'them  practically  slaves.  When  they  were  freed  from  Spanish 
control,  nine-tenths  were  still  under  the  heel  of  landlords.  "No 
nation  can  exist  half  slave  and  half  free,"  said  Lincoln.  With 
the  masses  still  in  serfdom  Mexico  made  no  progress  in  demo- 
cracy. 

The  struggles  in  Mexico  since  1810  have  been  one  long  contest 
between  the  forces  of  autocracy  and  democracy.  The  various 
parties  have  borne  many  names  and  have  had  many  confusing 
associations,  but  have  remained  substantially  the  same  two  hosts 
— the  army,  the  Church,  the  landlords,  and  mine-owners  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  mass  of  the  people,  for  the  most  part  landless 
and  moneyless,  on  the  other.  One  phase  of  this  was  the  contest 
between  the  Centralists  and  the  Federalists.  During  this  struggle 


the  question  of  which  power,  the  national  or  the  State,  should 
be  responsible  for  education  was  earnestly  discussed.  As,  how- 
ever, the  political  centre  of  gravity  was  constantly  shifting  from 
one  to  the  other  of  these  conflicting  powers,  nothing  was  decided 
and  little  done. 

Another  difficulty  was  the  poverty  of  the  treasuries  of  both 
the  States  and  the  nation.  Continuous  revolutions  had  left  the 
people  in  a  wretched  condition  and  almost  without  funds. 
Haciendas,  churches,  and  towns  were  alike  stripped  of  every 
form  of  wealth — the  people  were  bled  white  by  war. 

Such  conditions  gave  the  national  government  the  excuse  to 
turn  over  the  financing  and  control  of  the  schools  to  the  States 
and  the  weak  and  impoverished  States  proceeded  immediately 
to  pass  the  business  on  the  municipios,  which,  like  our  New 
England  towns,  covered  large  country  districts.  Nothing  was 
accomplished  by  this  shifting  of  responsibility.  If  the  nation 
was  bankrupt,  the  States  were  also  exhausted ;  and,  if  the  States 
had  no  money,  the  towns  from  which  they  derived  their  revenues 
were,  of  course,  equally  impoverished.  So  that,  even  after  the 
authority  was  given  them  to  establish  schools,  the  towns  were 
unable  to  support  the  stupendous  undertaking. 

In  face,  however,  of  these  tremendous 'difficulties,  some  be- 
ginnings were  made,  which  show  how  deeply  the  people  were 
concerned.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  the  law  promulgated 
by  the  State  of  I^uevo  Leon  (1825)  the  principle  of  compulsory 
attendance  on  schools  was  laid  down.  Professor  Martinez,  in 
his  "Review  of  Education  in  Nuevo  Leon,"  Mexico  (1894), 
quotes  this  Constitution  as  commanding  the  city  government 
"to  promote  the  proper  education  of  the  young  and  establish  en- 
dowed schools  of  primary  grade,  to  see  to  the  due  conservation 
and  right  government  of  those  already  in  existence,  respecting 
always  the  rights  of  individuals  and  corporations."  The  same 
Constitution  directs  that  in  all  villages  primary  schools  should 
be  established^  in  which  should  be  taught  "reading,  writing,  and 
the  principles  of  numbers,  the  catechism  of  the  Christian  doc- 
trine, and  a  summary  explanation  of  the  duties  of  citizenship." 
It  i£  only  within  the  last  few  years  that  we  have  introduced  in- 
struction in  civics  in  our  schools. 

Another  great  difficulty  faced  these  early  school  enthusiasts, 
and  this  was  the  lack  of  teachers.  To  solve  this  problem  the 
Mexicans  seized  upon  the  Lancastrian  system  of  teaching  the 
elementary  branches,  which  was  popular  at  the  time  in  England 
and  in  America.  It  seemed  to  suit  their  conditions  exactly, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  did  "fit  in  with  their  impracticable 
schemes.  It  was  the  old  monitorial  system  carried  to  the  ex- 
treme. It  proved  a  failure  in  Mexico,  as  it  did  everywhere, 
though  it  did  some  good  by  calling  attention  to  the  duty  of 
educating  all  the  people. 

Among  the  things  for  which  the  administration  of  President 
Diaz  should  receive  credit  were  the  suppression  of  religious 
persecution  and  anti-foreign  demonstrations;  the  suppression 

10 


of  brigandage,  always  a  characteristic  of  Mexico;  the  develop- 
ment of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country,  especially  by  the 
policy  of  encouraging  investments  by  Americans  and  other  for- 
eign capitalists ;  the  consolidation  and  improvement  of  the  rail- 
ways; the  partial  abolition  of  peonage;  the  standardization  of 
the  currency;  the  encouragement  of  education;  and  the  main- 
tenance of  liberty  and  equality  before  the  law. 

Though  at  the  beginning  a  sincere  representative  of  the  masses 
of  the  people,  Diaz,  as  his  administration  went  on,  became  more 
and  more  involved  with  the  upper  classes.  He  has  even  been 
accused  of  being  unfriendly  to  public  education.  He  certainly 
did  not  wish  to  make  education  a  national  matter,  and  opposed 
a  proposition  to  establish  a  centralized  system  of  schools.  In 
this  he  was  right.  The  initiative  in  educational  matters,  in 
elementary  education  especially,  should  be  left  to  the  local  au- 
thorities. 

In  spite  of  opposition  from  his  own  people,  -who  thought  he 
was  altogether  too  partial  to  foreign  investors,  Diaz  pushed  the 
policy  of  subsidies  for  railway  lines,  exemption  of  import  duties 
on  factory  machinery,  and  relief  from  taxation  during  specified 
periods  for  productive  industries.  The  result  was  great  improve- 
ment in  the  economic  conditions  of  the  laboring  classes,  especially 
in  the  mining  districts.  But  the  wants  of  the  people  began  to 
grow  with  their  wages,  and  they  began  to  question  and  to  in- 
vestigate. For  centuries  they  had  expected  nothing  and  were 
resigned  to  a  miserable  lot,  but  now  their  very  prosperity  made 
them  restless.  They  commenced  to  inquire  why  it  was  that  a 
few  men  had  more  land  than  they  needed,  while  others  had  none, 
and  why  taxation  was  so  much  heavier  on  the  poor  man  than  on 
the  rich. 

The  Diaz  Government  found  itself  unable  to  solve  the  problem 
of  taxation  and  land  tenure.  Those  efforts  proved  a  failure 
which  sought  to  put  a  rate  upon  the  immense  holdings  of  land 
that  would  make  them  unprofitable,  and  thus  open  them  up 
for  settlement  by  the  small  farmers.  The  mere  effort  to  do  this 
caused  great  dissatisfaction  among  the  land  barons,  and  its 
failure  bitter  disappointment  to  the  people.  Such  were  the  ele- 
ments that  led  up  to"  the  Madero  revolution  of  1911. 

The  unfortunate  Madero's  part  in  this  struggle  is. well  known. 
More  truly  than  any  one  since  Hidalgo  and  Juarez,  he  repre- 
sented the  real  people  of  Mexico.  While  he  made  the  land  ques- 
tion the  chief  one  in  his  platform — much  to  his  sorrow  later, 
for  he  was  totally  unable  to  do  anything  to  solve  the  agrarian 
problem — he  also  represented  the  aspirations  of  Mexicans  for 
^education  and  equality.  Like  Hidalgo,  he  was  a  dreamer.  We 
admired  his  idealism  and  felt  deep  pity  for  his  weakness. 

Enough  has  been  recalled  to  show  that  this  series  of  Mexican 
revolutions  has  been  one  long  struggle  for  liberty,  for  opportun- 
ity, especially  on  the  land>  and  for  the  right  of  self-government. 
It  was  a  succession  of  forward  movements  followed  by  reactions, 

11 


but,  as  is  the  rule  in  human  affairs,  a  little  progress  was  reg- 
istered by  each  effort. 

Summarizing  now  the  educational  situation  in  Mexico  at  the 
present  time,  we  may  set  down  the  following  propositions : 

1.  The   present  leaders  of  the   people   are  thoroughly   com- 
mitted to  the  cause  of  public  education.     The  Constitutionalist 
party   and   its   leader  are   pledged  to   the   development   of  the 
schools. 

2.  It  is  agreed  that  the  initiative  shall  be  left  to  the  local 
committees,  the  municipios,  and  the  States  perhaps,  with  the 
supervision  and  direction  from  the  national   Government,  but 
with  no  centralized  control. 

3.  The  people  are  firmly  determined  that  these  schools  shall 
be,   as  they  say,   "free,  lay    (secular),  and  compulsory."     The 
leaders  are  intensely  opposed  to  Church  control  of  the  schools. 

4.  In  organization  the  schools  follow  the  French  plan  rather 
than  the  American,  the  primary  grades  being  comprised  within 
six  years,  four  called  "elementary"  and  two  called  "superior." 
Since  they  were  left  to  the  initiative  of  the  local  authorities,  the 
schools  do  not  cover  the  field  and  vary  much  in  excellence.  Some 
cities  have  fairly  good  schools,  but  the  majority  of  the  country 
schools  are  poor.     The  instruction  is  generally  limited  to  the 
three   R.'s,   and   is   very   indifferently   given   by   poorly   trained 
teachers  from  the  lower  orders  of  society.     It  is  safe  to  say  that 
three-fourths  of  the  people  of  Mexico  are  still  illiterate. 

5.  Mexico  has  nothing  that  corresponds  to  our  high  school. 
The  institutes  resemble  the  French  lycees  rather  than  our  Ameri- 
can high  schools.     They  may  be  roughly  described  as  a  com- 
bination of  grammar  school,  high  school,  and  the  first  two  years 
of  college,  with  a  few  professional  studies  included.     Opposi- 
tion to  the  Church  has  led  the  State  authorities  to  oppose  the 
introduction  of  Latin  and  to  substitute  in  its  place  modern  lan- 
guages and  elementary  science,  with  the  result  that  the  courses 
are  very  superficial.     In  addition  to  the  institutes  are  what  are 
called   "preparatory   schools,"   hardly   distinguishable   from   the 
lower   grades  of  the   institutes   which   give   instruction   in   ele- 
mentary and  secondary  branches. 

6.  Normal  schools  have  been  established  in  most  of  the  States, 
and  are  attended  for  the  most  part  by  poor  boys  and  girls.     It 
is  unfortunate  that,  owing  to  the  prevalent  aristocratic  feeling, 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  well-to-do  do  not  go  into  the  teach- 
ing profession,   with   the   result  that   it  is   looked   down   upon. 
One  reason  for  this  is  that  the  pay  is  small  and  the  sons  of  the 
rich  expect  to  enter  more  lucrative  callings,  but  another  reason 
is  that  the  Church  frowns  upon  the  secular  normal  school  as 
the  foundation  of  the  whole   irreligious   public   school   system, 
which  is  to  her  anathema.     This  pressure  on  the  conscience  of 
the  religious,  combined  with  social  ostracism,  results  ultimately 
in  limiting  the  attendance  to  the  poorest  classes  of  youth,  who, 
with   nothing   to   lose,   brave   all   and   go   to   the   State   normal 
schools. 

12 


7.  The  universities  in  Mexico  owe  their  origin  entirely  to 
the  Church.  The  one  of  chief  importance  was  the  University 
of  the  City  of  Mexico,  established  in  1551.  Opened  in  1553,  it 
continued  throughout  the  colonial  period  and  barely  survived 
the  revolution  of  1810-21.  From  the  beginning  it  was  occupied 
primarily  with  theology  and  jurisprudence,  its  faculty  of  let- 
ters being  secondary.  As  the  Church  ceased  to  dominate  the 
government  theology  was  dropped,  and  only  law  and  medicine 
remained.  When  later  these  schools  controlled  the  professional 
licenses,  they  became  the  football  of  politics.  In  this  way  the 
University  fell  into  disrepute.  Once  or  twice  it  was  suppressed, 
and  finally  it  was  dissolved  into  its  constituent  parts,  separate 
schools  of  medicine  and  law.  One  of  the  last  acts  of  the  Diaz 
Administration  was  an  attempt  to  revive  the  University  of  Mex- 
ico City,  which,  however,  failed  during  the  subsequent  con- 
fusion. 

What  can  we  say  in  conclusion?  There  must  be  a  way  for 
the  Mexican  people  out  of  their  terrible  situation.  What  is 
their  duty,  and  what  is  our  duty  as  their  neighbor?  It  would 
be  foolish  indeed  to  propose,  at  this  time  especially,  a  solution 
of  the  problem  of  Mexico,  but  it  is  not  foolish  to  try  to  learn 
what  their  history  teaches  with  regard  to  their  needs  and  their 
aspirations. 

The  Mexicans  must  have,  not  only  land,  but  an  education. 
Though  he  has  been  struggling  in  his  blind  way  for  liberty  for 
a  hundred  years,  for  the  want  of  intelligence  and  of  character 
he  has  failed  to  secure  his  freedom.  A  thorough  system  of 
schools  which  shall  provide  universal  education  is,  without  ques- 
tion, the  greatest  need  of  Mexico. 

Does  the  proposal  of  universal  education  for  Mexico  seem 
absurd?  Why  is  it  more  absurd  than  the  proposal  to  educate 
the  Cuban,  the  Porto  Rican,  and  the  Filipino?  It  should  not  be 
more  hopeless  than  the  education  of  the  Indian  or  the  negro. 
No  doubt  it  will  require  a  long  time  even  to  establish  the  neces- 
sary schools.  It  will  be  the  work  of  generations  to  quality  the 
thirteen  million  ignorant  people  for  intelligent  citizenship,  but 
education  offers  the  only  method  of  making  men  fit  to  be 
free. 

Believing  that  the  Mexico  of  the  future  must  be  built  by  its 
people,  and  that  they  have  little  to  contribute  to  its  structure 
but  their  native  intellectual  and  spiritual  abilities,  I  have  sought 
to  get  a  just  estimate  of  them  from  those  who  know  them  best. 
A  native  Mexican  who  was  educated  in  Massachusetts  and  who 
has  taught  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  his  own  country, 
where  he  was  head  of  a  large  college  and  superintendent  of  public 
schools  of  a  State,  assures  me  that  the  Mexican  peon  is  the 
equal  intellectually  of  the  Italian,  the  Hungarian,  or  any  of  the 
other  immigrants  among  us,  and  fully  as  capable  of  self-govern- 
ment. A  Protestant  missionary  teacher,  who  spent  thirty  years 
in  Mexico  at  the  head  of  schools,  and  is  now  connected  with  one 
of  our  universities,  testifies  that  the  Mexican  peon  has  all  the 

13 


qualities  to  make  a  citizen  of  a  republic  if  he  were  only  educated 
and  given  a  place  on  the  land.  The  superintendent  of  one  of 
the  large  petroleufn  companies  of  Mexico,  who  has  used  the 
peon  men  for  ten  years,  tells  me  that  they  are  as  teachable,  in- 
dustrious, faithful,  and  loyal  mechanics  and  laborers  as  any  men 
he  has  ever  employed.  The  president  of  the  largest  Mexican 
railway  system,  who  has  employed  these  people  for  twenty 
years — as  track  laborers,  shop  mechanics,  locomotive-drivers,  and 
conductors,  as  well  as  depot  agents  and  clerks — is  warm  in  his 
praise  of  the  common  Mexican,  who,  he  declares,  needs  only 
an  education  and  a  chance.  Many  other  witnesses  might  be 
cited  to  the  same  effect.  In  the  course  of  a  wide  inquiry  into 
the  character  of  these  people,  the  only  pessimists  found  were 
among  business  and  professional  men  in  Texas,  New  Mexico, 
and  California,  who  have  come  in  contact  with  the  worst  types 
of  Mexicans — the  poor  laborer  seeking  work,  the  border  trader, 
usually  a  smuggler,  or  the  cattle  thief  and  bandit.  Those  who 
know  him  best  and  in  his  own  country  believe  the  common  Mexi- 
can has  in  him  the  making  of  a  man  and  a  citizen. 

In  addition  to  elementary  education  and  training  for  citizen- 
ship, Mexicans,  of  #11  men,  need  industrial  and  agricultural  edu- 
cation. Although  Father  Hidalgo  started  his  revolution  in  pro- 
test against  interference  with  his  industrial  schools  for  the  peo- 
ple, schools  of  this  type  have  made  little  progress.  They  are 
the  great  need.  Agriculture  in  Mexico  and  the  mechanic  arts 
are  very  primitive.  The  rich  man  objects  to  manual  labor  as 
beneath  his  dignity.  Technical  and  industrial  schools  are  needed 
to  overcome  this  sentiment.  Practically  nothing  has  been  done 
for  agricultural  education.  In  view  of  the  richness  of  the  soil 
and  the  other  resources  and  the  need  of  men  to  develop  them, 
industrial  and  agricultural  education  would  seem  to  be  one  of 
the  most  important  tasks  before  the  Mexican  people. 

Mexico  has  no  college  or  university  of  the  modern  type.  She 
needs  intelligent  leaders,  but  she  has  no  institution  to  train  them. 
One  of  the  best  possible  things,  therefore,  that  could  be  done 
in  Mexico,  while  helping  her  to  start  her  elementary,  agricultural, 
and  industrial  schools,  would  be  to  give  her  an  independent 
modern  college  of  the  type  of  Robert  College,^  of  Constantinople. 
The  advantages  that  would  accrue  to  Mexico  from  a  college  of 
tliat  type  are  too  evident  to  need  argument.  Its  influence  on 
education,  on  politics,  on  industry,  and  on  morals  would  be  all 
the  greater  because  of  its  independence.  Only  such  an  institu- 
tion can  train  Mexicans  in  a  way  to  make  them  into  the  wise, 
unselfish,  and  independent  leaders  the  people  need. 

We  have  pledged  ourselves  to  stand  with  the  other  nations 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere  in  making  democracy  a  workable 
principle  of  government.  Close  to  our  doors  we  have  fifteen  mil- 
lions of  people  who,  through  ignorance  and  the  habits  that  come 
of  ignorance,  have  failed  to  differentiate  liberty  from  license 
and  have  subordinated  federalism  to  factionalism.  Mexico  can- 
not have  a  free  and  ordered  government  so  long,  as  the  great 

14 


masses  of  its  people  are  illiterate.  A  democracy  must  be  based 
on  an  organized  public  opinion,  and  such  a  public  opinion  can  be 
made  possible  only  through  a  system  of  education  which,  while 
it  trains  in  the  industrial  arts,  also  disciplines  the  character  and 
develops  leaders  of  scope  and  vision.  The  best  aid  to  a  man  is 
to  help  him  help  himself.  Our  best  aid  to  Mexico  would  be  to 
help  that  nation  train  itself. 

In  the  wretched  situation  in  which  we  find  Mexico  at  the 
present  time  there  is  one  encouraging  element.  In  their  dark 
night  there  is  one  bright  star.  It  is  the  star  which  through  the 
long  and  weary  night  of  the  last  hundred  years  has  ever  beckoned 
them  forward.  This  star  is  their  desire  for  liberty  and  for 
education.  In  spite  of  their  ignorance,  stupidity,  and  brutality, 
this  is  the  one  thing  for  which  we  must  admire  the  common 
people  of  Mexico.  Through  a  century  of  struggle  they  have 
nurtured  this  desire  for  education,  and  have  been  true  to  this 
ideal  of  self-government.  However  miserable  their  present 
plight,  and  however  outrageous  their  recent  conduct,  we  must 
believe  that,  holding  stronger  than  ever  to  this  desire  and  this 
ideal,  the  people  of  Mexico  are  to-day  nearer  to  the  realization 
of  their  aspirations  than  ever  before. 


15 


Lithomount        • 
Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif. 

MT.  JAN  2],  1908 


